To Have Or To Have Not

[Commentary] In a country as rich and advanced as ours, you have to wonder how we created this "digital divide" in the first place. It's getting to the point where a multi-media, broadband connection is a necessity of modern life. If you have one, you can live and work in the modern world to the fullest extent. If you have not, you are left behind, stranded in the 20th century. But expensive, and rather grandiose, fiber optic-based networks reach only about half of the big telcos' customers, most of them in the suburban neighborhoods that surround large cities. Customers in these chosen areas are the broadband "haves". But, if you live in the inner city, in a small town, or in a rural area, and your local telco is Verizon or AT&T, your broadband destiny is to be a "have not". The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act puts $7.2 billion to work to alter the broadband landscape in the "have not" regions. A lot of it is going to go toward building modern, multi-media broadband infrastructure in inner cities, small towns and rural areas that have been neglected, abandoned or sold by the big telcos. It's about time. And, it's money well spent.